It took them the full, aforementioned five minutes just to walk to the hospital's entrance, to exchange a greeting and a few simple words to explain the current situation and then to return to the patient's room. Yet even before they arrived back at the Doctor's bedside, the sight of a familiar figure stepping out of the door caused their little trip around the ward to be cut short. It was the Doctor who spared them the rest of the way by coming towards them. All of a sudden it clicked in Sarah's mind and she understood why he had been so agreeable before. As soon as they had left the room, he had been able to get up without facing an argument! Sarah puffed up her cheeks angrily.
Harry, however, hadn't quite understood it yet. He called out his patient's name, merely surprised to find him on his feet. "Doctor! You shouldn't be here!"
"Shouldn't I?", replied the Doctor, shouting back through the corridor. "But I just want to say Hello to the Colonel! Hello, Colonel!" He waved over to them.
In his current, half-confused state Sarah would not have been too surprised to find the tall man wandering the corridors in the hospital gown still, but thankfully he had changed back into his professor's outfit. You could tell that he had been in a hurry to do so since he was still pulling his jacket over his shirt. And, after he had approached her and the two UNIT men, Sarah also noticed the TARDIS spade-shaped key dangling from his neck underneath the orange and brown scarf. She shot the taller man an angry glare as a means of punishment for having tricked her and Harry.
"Hello, Doctor! It's good to see you. Though, as you know, I am no longer a Colonel, I'm a Brigadier now.", explained Lethbridge-Stewart as the two of them shook hands and the Doctor's assistant caught a glimpse of a smile spreading underneath the military man's moustache.
"Of course, you would be, after your promotion! Congratulations, by the way!" The Doctor believed so firmly in his own confused words that he took the Brigadier's hand once more just to shake on his promotion, no matter how long ago it had happened.
At the same time, Harry put both of his hands on his hips as he shook his head and he and Sarah exchanged sceptical looks with each other. "Next time, I'll tie him down before I turn my back.", she quietly hissed to Harry. If either of the other two heard her by accident, she didn't mind.
Unlike them, The Brigadier just cleared his throat and continued on as though this confusing, little scene had not happened at all. Apparently, he thought nothing of the Doctor's strange behaviour – or, in any case, not more than he usually did. He straightened his posture and folded his hands behind his back. "Well then, how do you do? Sullivan here called me in about an emergency." The concern was difficult to read from Lethbridge-Stewart's face, yet it was undoubtedly there. He was always so professional about everything, almost too professional.
"Yes, HOW do you do?", repeated Sarah, but with a sour tone. Least the Doctor could do was to tell him the truth about what had happened!
Only now the tall man looked at her, but his brief glare told her clearly to keep quiet. Then, with the most clueless expression he could muster, he turned back to Lethbridge-Stewart. "Emergency? There's been no emergency! Just a severe allergic reaction to… hay, was it?", he flat out lied to the Brigadier. The smile remained on his face even as he continued. "But if I hear that question one more time, I might just die of too much sympathy."
Sarah studied his demeanour, distrustful of his act, but found no trace of the weakness he had shown just minutes ago. He couldn't possible have recovered this fast, could he?
"I take it that you're well, then.", replied the Brigadier dryly, although his raised eyebrows proved the impoliteness in the Doctor's tone had not gone unnoticed. Yet he didn't complain.
Harry, however, refused to allow such a bold lie to pass. "Now, Doctor…!", he began in a cautionary tone of voice and stepped bravely forward.
"Enough of me, Brigadier.", the Doctor cut him off mid-sentence by raising his voice over Harry's. "You have a problem with people going missing in another dimension! So, tell me: Have you found the common place in the mirrors' history yet?"
Glancing over to the speechless Harry, the Brigadier refused to answer the question. "Excuse me, Doctor, but I believe this is none of your concern. I gave explicit orders that civilians may not be involved in the case." But instead of supporting his subordinate, both the medical officer and Sarah received strict looks from him. She gasped at him, feeling offended by the importance of such a trifle at a time like this.
The Doctor, too, had noticed the glare. "Oh, don't look at them like that!", he ordered the Brigadier and also took a step forwards, as though he tried to put his companions under his protection. "It's not their fault. I involved myself. In fact, I demand to be involved from now on!"
When she saw him puff himself up like that, Sarah began to understand what was going on: The Doctor intended to act as the higher authority, just like he used to do in the many arguments he used to have with the Brigadier in the past. It was mostly subtle, hidden in his gestures and demeanour, and, no doubt, had to be quite exhausting for him. The benefit of it? Obviously, the Brig wouldn't dare to decide over a man who had the strength to insist on making his own decisions.
"And why is that, if I may ask?", Lethbridge-Stewart wanted to know next, in regard of the Doctor's sudden interest in UNIT operations.
"Because...", the Doctor replied, lifting a finger and then hesitated a moment. "...I discovered that being a professor doesn't suit me." He leaned threateningly close towards the Brigadier, who, although he was not backing down, felt visibly uncomfortable. "Now, do you want my help or do you not?"
After thinking his priorities over for another second, the UNIT superior began to reply to the question the Doctor had posed earlier, as a means to signify his approval. To his relief, his former scientific advisor decided to step back out of his sphere of privacy. "There is a small warehouse on the outskirts of London, owned by a Mister Walter Simeon… It's not an official business he has, but the few clues we've gotten are pointing to his place. It appears he has been taking and giving mirrors for several feigned reasons. I fought for a while to get a permission to mount a raid on the warehouse, but they have denied my request due to the lack of evidence so far."
The Doctor stared at him in shock. "Who ever told you that you need to raid the place?"
"We have been unable to get a hold on Mr. Simeon for questioning. No one will tell us what is really inside of that warehouse.", explained the Brigadier. "And if I may emphasize on it: A lot of people have come to harm because of those mirrors. At this point, I expect some ghastly surprise to come out of this case. We have to be properly prepared to face it."
"I see…" The Time Lord pondered about it for a little while, seemingly agreeing with the Brigadier's presentiment of danger. He paced a few steps around his friends. "So how can we get a look at what's in there?", he posed the question to everyone present.
"What if it's not as ghastly as you expect it to be? What if it's just Mr. Simeon, or say, one of his workers?", Sarah wondered aloud as she tried to offer a more optimistic outlook on the case. With a shrug, she suggested the simplest solution that came to her mind. "The authorities won't complain about a handful of investigators poking about, will they? Especially if they don't know about it." A light smile played about her lips.
"I was thinking of that, too, Miss Smith, and I am also aware of your methods of intrusion." The gaze the Brigadier directed at her showed his disapproval. He was willing to bend the laws for the fate of the world, but unlike Sarah, he would only do it if it was absolutely necessary. More importantly, though, he had another objection to raise. "However, if it's not Mr. Simeon in there, chances are that I will never see this handful of investigators ever again." He emphasized on 'the investigators' bit as though he knew his best team would be the ones volunteering to die.
"Well, you could bring a carload of soldiers, just for backup, couldn't you?", argued Sarah. "Park them outside, and have them rush in at the first sign of danger? Or does that require a permission as well?" She cocked her head and looked at him in a way that silently questioned him, whether he might be making this more difficult than it needed to be. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the Doctor smiling at her and eagerly awaiting the Brigadier's response.
Lethbridge-Stewart crossed his arms while he pondered about her suggestion. "I suppose that's feasible...", he agreed eventually.
"Could we drive there as soon as possible?", the Doctor immediately asked, but was shot another glare by Harry for his inappropriate zest for action.
"Yes, I can organize a meeting right away." This time it was the Brigadier who kept his medical officer from raising his voice in concern. "Where do I find the next telephone, Sullivan?", he addressed him.
Harry's disoriented expression revealed plainly that this question had just caused his train of thought to derail. He hesitated a moment before he pointed towards the end of the corridor. "Ehm, just down the hall and then to the left, Sir. You'll find a wall telephone there."
A short nod in response, and the Brigadier walked away to contact UNIT headquarters, which left the remaining three standing in the hallway unsupervised. Once he had turned his back and was at least 10 feet away from them, Sarah noticed how the Doctor dropped his shoulders and exhaled in relief. All of a sudden, he seemed no longer as strong and collected as he had appeared a mere seconds before. The tired look of weakness returned to his eyes. 'Bloody hypocrite, you!', his assistant cursed in her thoughts. She had been right about his act from the very beginning! As she stepped closer to provide support in case that he needed it, the Doctor gestured for her to leave it be. "Don't, Sarah! ...I'm better already."
Even so, Harry had every reason to keep sending stern looks his way. "I say, I really ought to tell the Brig about the condition you're in. A warehouse on the outskirts of London is the last place you're supposed to be right now.", he lectured the Doctor, before finally demanding an explanation. "What's the point of this charade, anyway?"
"The point is, Harry", he began to explain, sending an equally stern gaze back at him. "that if I stay here, I'm condemned to ponder about Andrews and Colonels, and singing Venusian lullabies to furry beasts with a voice that isn't my own."
A smile crossed Sarah's face as she remembered how he had saved her from the beast Aggedor on Peladon. His previous incarnation had been a good singer. The current one not so much, or at least he didn't dare to try, despite having a good storyteller's voice. But aside from recalling a memory they shared, his words made her realize what a mess his mind had to be at the moment, and so her smile faded away quickly.
"And I'd really rather not. I'd rather just BE me.", concluded the Doctor, before casting his gaze at each of his companions. "Besides… I have you with me, in any case, don't I?" He looked almost a little afraid that he might be wrong after all.
"Well, we can't have you join the fray without us, now, can we?", nodded Harry, finally giving in to his patient's wish.
"You'd have to try really hard to get rid of us.", confirmed Sarah.
The Doctor smiled back at each of his companions, gratefully. "Thank you. Both of you."
Well, given the last weeks, they deserved a word of gratitude, didn't they?